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Our MVP of the Intel Extreme Masters LoL is PerkZ
IEM Katowice wasn’t the smoothest event but PerkZ was nothing but consistent.
PerkZ isn't overly flashy, but consistency is key
© Riot games
While the Intel Extreme Masters Katowice League of Legends competition was far from perfect, thanks to a string of technical delays that will be the undoubted talking point going forwards, the action when we did get into the Rift was more interesting than many of the match-ups so far this season.
While international competition always brings entertaining clashes, this mish-mash of teams that came together at the last minute thanks to multiple drop outs put on a great show, with very different local metas converging to create a tournament-specific champion tier list that, if we are lucky, may spill over into the regular LCS matches in the next few weeks.
G2 surprised everyone by winning a series against a non EU team – and a South Korean team at that. The west’s other hopes were H2k, who again made it to the semi final of an international competition when few expected they could. However this time it was Flash Wolves who knocked them out of the competition after a long series with the average game time around 50 minutes, to set up a date with G2 in the final.
That final did not disappoint. Arguably the two top teams in the competition were in the final that saw the number one seeds from the EU LCS face off against the number one seeds from the LMS. Neither team had fared particularly well in international competition over the past year or so, with both teams disappointing at Worlds late last year. However the new season combined with the changes to the meta favoured both teams, meaning that going into the final it was impossible to call.
But when all was said and done it was Flash Wolves that came out on top. Both teams should be proud of their performances, knocking off tough competition from some of the best regions in the world and fighting through some tough series, but ultimately the Flash Wolves proved that they are the team to be feared heading into MSI, providing they manage to keep that top spot in the LMS.
While both teams, and all the players, put in great performances throughout the event there was one man that stood out from the rest. There's a lot to be said for coming up big in a clutch moment, but in an event like IEM where one bad game can be disastrous, being consistent is more important than anything. That's why G2’s mid laner Luka ‘PerkZ’ Perković is our MVP of the Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2017 League of Legends competition.
Things didn’t exactly start off well for G2. A loss against the team they would go on to meet in the final, Flash Wolves, in their first match of the competition meant that every remaining match they had to play would be with their tournament life on the line. A loss would send them home, and early on it would have been another embarrassing international event for EU’s best. But PerkZ kept them in it.
If we ignore the matches against Flash Wolves then PerkZ was arguably the most consistent player at the event. Every game he pulled off more than his fair share of kills, would output a ton of damage in fights and all round his play was solid. There weren't all that many massive ‘wow’ moments from his matches, but he was always there, mostly in the right position and always ready to try something a little out of the ordinary to turn a fight.
As we have seen in the regular LCS season, PerkZ was certainly not a player who was limited by his champion pool. LeBlanc, Corki, Ryze, Jayce, Cassiopeia were all no problem for PerkZ, who proved to be one of the most flexible players at the event. With the bans often getting rid of one or more of his Go To champions, he allowed his team to grab the comfort picks while he would go for either the better matchup or just a strong champion.
Throughout the event G2’s wins usually came with a lot of kills for the mid laner, who would often top the kill total for the team’s matches. With Zven failing to show up for much of the early stages of IEM it was down to PerkZ and jungler Trick to take down the opponents and they certainly obliged. While IEM as a whole was not exactly a kill fest PerkZ would often end matches with five or more kills to this name, often leading the team and getting those crucial pick offs that they could then snowball with.
G2 may have fallen in the final, but if you look at their previous runs in international events this should be considered a massive win. Not only that, but they managed to take down two South Korean teams, something that would be unthinkable to anyone who had missed the start of the competitive season. Sure they certainly need to improve if they want to make the top four at the Mid Season Invitational, but G2 finally looked good in international competition, and a massive factor in that was the performance from PerkZ.
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